Vegan?

So i never in a million years thought i would think about going vegan! I love meat, BUT i stumbled across a youtube chanel by freelee the banana girl. And that let to a video she posted by Gary Yourofsky about being vegan and why he became vegan ect. It really opened my eyes and had some really amazing points that totally made scence!!! So i think i would be willing to give up my chicken and salmon yes im kinda sad about it BUT if being vegan really will help my body and most importantly my 2 year old to be the healhiest possible why not?!? My daughter only wants to eat fruits and veggies for a reason right? sometimes she will eat eggs or chicken but thats it and not very often! All she likes is veggies some fruit and milk (we can go for almond milk if we do vegan) So my question is for anyone who is vegan can you please give me any tips, advice , meal ideas for me and my family since we really have no idea where to start becuase we really do eat a lot of meat it is our main source of protien and im a little scared to cut it out. Thanks :)
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Replies

  • dayone987
    dayone987 Posts: 645 Member
    All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    floyd-wall-head-master-pudding-meat-animation.gif
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    I always base my life changing decisions on youtube videos and netflix documentaries. It is true that one is born every minute........
  • Pearsquared
    Pearsquared Posts: 1,656 Member
    All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.
    I second this.
  • TheGymGypsy
    TheGymGypsy Posts: 1,023 Member
    Congrats on deciding to go vegan! It's a wonderful and very compassionate decision to make. I would recommend doing a lot of your own research and not taking too much stalk in Freelee, who is not a nutritionist. Make sure you take a B12 supplement, and that you eat enough protein from greens/ nuts/ beans etc.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
    I'll never understand how people can look at that Freelee the ED girl and think, "I'm gonna emulate that"!
    Kooky.
  • DamePiglet
    DamePiglet Posts: 3,730 Member
    All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.
    I second this.

    Third this. And if you don't, then don't make your kid go vegan. That's potentially harmful.
  • veganbettie
    veganbettie Posts: 701 Member
    My baby has been vegan since conception and is 19 months now....he is so far perfect in every way health wise. I've been vegan for almost 7 years.

    That said, I am very careful with how we eat, AND he is still breastfed, so he is getting a lot of nutrients from me. Really he doesn't eat a lot of food anyways.

    I will have to say that most people get enough protein, that it's rarely an issue, you just need to make sure your diet is varied, we eat a lot of beans, and leafy greens.

    And I've based my life changing decisions off of research. :) Keep researching.
  • Kenazwa
    Kenazwa Posts: 278 Member
    My doctor recommended vegan to me several months ago because I have a few chronic conditions associated with inflammation. I only took the leap one week ago, however. There is a web site called the 21 day jumpstart that is helping me a lot.

    I hope you find benefit.
  • Collier78
    Collier78 Posts: 811 Member
    All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.

    So this...like VeganBettie said keep researching and do what is best for you not what a youtube video says is...
  • RaeLB
    RaeLB Posts: 1,216 Member
    A plant-based diet can have many health benefits but it can also have health consequences - i.e. vegan diet ≠ health & omnivorous diet ≠ health - just like any other diet it all comes down to individual choice on what you put into your body.

    HOWEVER, A really good reason to go vegan is for the love of animals.

    I know plenty of people who were raised vegan from birth with no health problems. With any major shift in diet you just have to make sure you're very intentional about getting the macro and micro nutrients that you need.

    Join this group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/45-happy-herbivores
  • peabean26
    peabean26 Posts: 78 Member
    Our family is not vegan, but we are vegetarian and don't eat fish (some vegetarians do). One place to start would be to get some cookbooks from Isa Chandra Muskowitz. We use her recipes all the time and they are delicious. My daughter is 5 and has been vegetarian her whole life. She just isn't interested in meat at all. In fact, she won't eat any meat substitutes that taste too much like regular meat (like smart dogs). She does eat eggs and cheese, and takes a multivitamin. For meat substitutes we use tofu, tempeh, seitan (home made is much cheaper than store bought stuff!!), Quorn, tvp, and beans. There are lots of options, once you start cooking without meat you see the potential in so many ingredients.

    One thing I would caution, about freelee, aka the 'banana girl'. She proposes a diet of 90% fruit, which I don't believe is healthy for a growing child. If you want to go vegan please do some in depth research first. I always advocate for going vegetarian first, since the leap from omnivore to vegan is just enormous and challenging if you are not familiar with the ingredients typically used.

    http://www.theppk.com/books/isa-does-it/
  • veganbettie
    veganbettie Posts: 701 Member

    HOWEVER, A really good reason to go vegan is for the love of animals.


    ^^^ This.....trust me....if you're going vegan for health reasons, or to lose weight or whatever....that's good. and it is a healthy life style if you make sure you're eating decently...but it's really really easy to gain weight on a vegan diet and it's really easy to become a junk food vegan, there are a LOT of processed vegan foods out there that are delicious, and not so good for you.

    People that become vegan for the love of animals, rarely struggle with the "diet", it's a lifestyle change, and it is wonderful. You just need to be smart about it. Learn nutrition, learn what you NEED to eat. Be healthy. Please don't use this as a fad diet. It gives us lifestyle vegans a bad name. :D
  • jessica182517
    jessica182517 Posts: 390 Member
    All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.
    I second this.

    Third this. And if you don't, then don't make your kid go vegan. That's potentially harmful.

    I WILL be talking with my daughter ped before i make any decisions on her food/diet as i always have! I want her to be as healthy as possible and would not do anything to put her in harm, but i do not see why going vegan would be any harm to her what so ever! Its HEALTHY food, veggies and fruit and beans and other things that we are ment to eat, she dosent really like meat yet anyway sometimes she will eat chicken or eggs but i will be talking with her dr before i give her or stop giving her anything.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    My baby has been vegan since conception and is 19 months now....he is so far perfect in every way health wise. I've been vegan for almost 7 years.

    That said, I am very careful with how we eat, AND he is still breastfed, so he is getting a lot of nutrients from me. Really he doesn't eat a lot of food anyways.

    I will have to say that most people get enough protein, that it's rarely an issue, you just need to make sure your diet is varied, we eat a lot of beans, and leafy greens.

    And I've based my life changing decisions off of research. :) Keep researching.

    How can your baby be vegan if you're breastfeeding him? Kind of a contradiction. Sounds to me like he's getting most of his diet from animal based sources...namely you.

    The point about most people getting enough protein, you were joking right? That's got to be a joke. Most people don't get nearly enough protein. Most people just get barely enough protein so that their muscles don't atrophy on a constant basis, I wouldn't call that getting enough protein.
  • Blue801
    Blue801 Posts: 442
    Do not put your child on any Freelee Durian Rider or 80/10/10 crazy diet! That is child abuse. If you must swallow the vegan snake oil and feed it to the child do as an above poster said and make sure you go for a balanced nutritious Vegan diet that provides everything a growing child needs. Freelee needs to be shot.
  • jim180155
    jim180155 Posts: 769 Member
    I tried veganism for a couple months starting last November, but by February I was purposely adding some meat and dairy back into my diet. Full veganism didn't seem right for me, but trying it for a few months was a good thing, I think. I now ordinarily only eat meat at dinner, if at all, and it's usually chicken or fish, whereas before all three meals would have been centered around meat, usually red meat.

    I'd advise you to ease into it. Find vegan dishes you enjoy. Learn to eat LOTS of raw fruits and vegetables. And don't assume that vegan automatically means nutritious - lots of junk food is vegan. As you eat more plants, cut back on your meat and dairy. And track your food and macros on MFP to make sure you're getting your targeted protein. Once you've drastically cut back on animal products, start taking a vitamin B12 supplement.
  • PennyM140
    PennyM140 Posts: 423 Member
    My son didn't care for the texture of meat at two years old either, with the exception of shrimp. Now that he is four he eats a wide variety foods including all types of meats, fruits, and vegetables.

    I'm not saying not to go vegan. If you want to that's totally your choice.
    I personally wouldn't force it on my child though. And she will probably start eating more meat as she gets older if you chose not to restrict her from it.
  • RaeLB
    RaeLB Posts: 1,216 Member
    All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.
    I second this.

    Third this. And if you don't, then don't make your kid go vegan. That's potentially harmful.

    I WILL be talking with my daughter ped before i make any decisions on her food/diet as i always have! I want her to be as healthy as possible and would not do anything to put her in harm, but i do not see why going vegan would be any harm to her what so ever! Its HEALTHY food, veggies and fruit and beans and other things that we are ment to eat, she dosent really like meat yet anyway sometimes she will eat chicken or eggs but i will be talking with her dr before i give her or stop giving her anything.

    I would go see vegan doctors and read resources on raising vegan children. If her doctor isn't vegan they will likely have a lot of ignorance about plant-based diets.
  • jessica182517
    jessica182517 Posts: 390 Member
    Also, i do not look at freelee as some goddess with all the right ideas and amazing information i think she can be kind of rude toward fat people actually. I know she just wants everyone healthy ect. but i just stumbled across her videos and the one she posted by gary is really informative and if you have not seen it and want to make rude comments about me and my thinking about making this decision please check it out first http://youtu.be/KE-Yb6MVl8c

    I am not looking for people to make smart *kitten* comments about me and the way i found out more about this vegan lifestyle which BTW i just started looking into NO i am not going to only use youtube to find my information i am not stupid so please do not make rude remarks about me. I would just like some more info from people who are vegan, who have become vegan or have at least tried it out. If you do not have anything to do with being vegan please stay out of the topic. I just want some views from real people this is "part of my research on the topic" why not look into what other real people are doing rather than just looking at facts on the internet?